Operation Raptor Rescue (Part 1)

[Snargfargle]

1944 is drawing to a close and finally the war is going well for us in the South Pacific. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, which severely reduced the functionally of our fleet, we began to push back against the might of Imperial Japan and are now making substantial headway. It's just fortunate for us that their homeland is an island, for the Japanese are fierce warriors and had they the industrial centers and natural resources of, say the US or the Soviet Union, then they might just be unstoppable. However, they don't and so with a campaign of supply line disruption and hard-fought island hopping, we have recovered most of the captured territories in the southern South Pacific. Now, we are preparing to re-take the Philippines.

This is where I come in. My name is Lieutenant Seymour Nathaniel Ardfargle. No, I'm not that S. N. Ardfargle. Rear Admiral Ardfargle is my uncle. However my father, who is commanding a regiment of artillery in the European Theater (we hear that the Germans are pushing back and have pushed a 'bulge' into our lines over there), named me after his only brother. Uncle Seymour (or, rather I should say, Admiral Ardfargle) is now stationed at Pearl Harbor and is part of Admiral Nimitz' staff. To say that the rumors about how he was awarded the Navy Cross are rife is an understatement. However, he is a consummate Navy man and won't say a thing to either support or deny them. “Classified, son” was his only response when I asked him and the look on his face (not to mention those two stars on his shoulder boards) told me that I'd best just put the matter to rest.

Until recently, I'd not seen my uncle for several years, as he was the captain of a battleship and I a cadet at the Naval Academy. I only graduated a little over a year ago but, as things are in wartime when senior officers are killed and must be replaced, I quickly rose from Ensign to Lieutenant. I've been ordered to Pearl Harbor for my first command assignment. Though it's very unusual for a Lieutenant to captain a ship, this is a special assignment under the direction of my uncle, who is the commander of Navy Intelligence in the Pacific Theater. Though he never talks about it, my uncle's exploits in the intelligence service are the stuff of legend at the Academy.

Now, I've seen my share of fighting in the past year as well and even was awarded a Bronze Star for taking temporary command of the ship on which I was serving as a junior fire-control officer when a kamikaze hit the bridge, killing the entire bridge crew. After that attack, and under my temporary command, we fought off several more kamikazes and then limped down Sydney Harbor so that the ship could be repaired. On the way, we locating and sank an enemy submarine that was trying its best to sink our crippled ship. As the result of my short temporary command, I was promoted from Lieutenant (junior grade) to Lieutenant and summoned to Pearl Harbor to take command of a destroyer, something that's almost unheard of for someone of my rank and experience. However, my uncle had his reasons and they were as much about keeping secrets as anything else.

Part 2

[The_first_harbinger]

Spoiler

Taking a destroyer into an operation

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Interesting. Would like to see how the story develops.

[Snargfargle]

5 minutes ago, The_first_harbinger said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Taking a destroyer into an operation

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Interesting. Would like to see how the story develops.

As with most of my stories, this is going to be a serial because I publish it as it's written. I've got most of the intro material and the ending outlined but I need to go play the scenario a few times in order to write the battle scenes. Now if I can just get WG to build me a special ship to do so  (more on that later). As it is, I need to play the scenario several times with several different ships that incorporate at least some of the properties of the ship I have in mind to see how it performs in actual "combat." 

[Lightninger]

36 minutes ago, The_first_harbinger said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Taking a destroyer into an operation

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

Interesting. Would like to see how the story develops.

A destroyer in operations is actually very viable if you play the right line of destroyer (ie Russian Bias) and know what you're doing. I've been top exp on the team many times already when running a destroyer in operations

[The_first_harbinger]

1 hour ago, Lightninger said:

A destroyer in operations is actually very viable if you play the right line of destroyer (ie Russian Bias) and know what you're doing. I've been top exp on the team many times already when running a destroyer in operations

Not any more viable than a cruiser, especially random joe teammates can already die in so many different manners and fashions.

Sure, the 4 130mm Russian bias guns can do pretty good, but I doubt you can do quite as well if you are shooting 12 152mm guns from a Cleveland instead.

Please. Don't advertise dd overdose in operations.

[Snargfargle]

26 minutes ago, The_first_harbinger said:

Not any more viable than a cruiser, especially random joe teammates can already die in so many different manners and fashions.

Sure, the 4 130mm Russian bias guns can do pretty good, but I doubt you can do quite as well if you are shooting 12 152mm guns from a Cleveland instead.

Please. Don't advertise dd overdose in operations.

I've been running DDs or watching others run them in Raptor Rescue all morning while getting material for my story. We have gotten five stars every time.

[Lightninger]

29 minutes ago, The_first_harbinger said:

Not any more viable than a cruiser, especially random joe teammates can already die in so many different manners and fashions.

Sure, the 4 130mm Russian bias guns can do pretty good, but I doubt you can do quite as well if you are shooting 12 152mm guns from a Cleveland instead.

Please. Don't advertise dd overdose in operations.

There are things that destroyers are more efficient at doing or can do things that cruisers simply are unable to do. I've done done 150k+ damage a good number of times in destroyers and been top of the team many times in operations.